Madrona Venture Group has led a $2.25 million venture round in TeachStreet, a Seattle startup that is building an online matchmaking service that connects people who want to learn a skill (piano, skydiving, German, microfinance, etc.) with local experts in those categories. …

Some entrepreneurial ventures are born out of necessity. That was the case for Kenshi Arasaki, who simply wanted a better way to communicate with friends about meeting up at Seattle bars for weekly happy hours. …

InsideTrip is a new online travel search startup that ranks individual flights, assigning a score of 1 to 100 based on a dozen factors such as leg room, security wait times, the age of the aircraft and number of stops. …

Sampa’s Marcelo Calbucci has put together a list of the most influential entrepreneur blogs in Seattle, choosing Hillel Cooperman of Jackson Fish Market, Benjamin Curtis of Catch the Best, Buzz Bruggeman’s Buzznovation and others. Calbucci, who also runs the Seattle startup index, based the blogger list on Google Reader counts, which he admits is far from precise. …

Dipiti is a new search engine that allows users to peruse thousands of comments in online message boards and forums, discovering relevant content that relates to areas such as health, pets, money and law. …